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By Randy Alcorn

"This book has been recommended to me by more people than any other book. An incredible story." - Steve H.

"Is this the day I die?" wonders Li Quan as he endures persecution for his faith. Half a world away his college buddy, businessman Ben Fielding, steps on the plane to China. Reunited after 20 years, both men face decisions that will determine their destinies---and the fates of their nations and the world. 400 pages, softcover from Tyndale.

Millions of Years?

The Bible says the world is about six thousand years old. But it seems like everything we learn from science tells us the world is billions of years old and the dinosaurs lived hundreds of millions of years ago.

Who is telling the truth? God or scientists?

What are the facts? Is a 6,000 year age for the earth based on different facts than a billion year age for the earth?

No, everyone is looking at the same facts. We are looking at the same fossils. We are looking at the same layers of sediment? We are looking at the same radiographic dating of rocks. No one disputes the facts. The difference comes from how those facts are interpreted.

Why must the facts be interpreted?

Because no one was there to see what happened. We can not directly observe and measure history. We must look at what we have in the present, and follow that evidence to wherever it leads us.

What is some of the evidence?

#1- Fossils take millions of years to form.

There's a problem with that statement. It's not true.

Museums have fossils that are only a few decades old. For example, there is a museum that has a fossilized cowboy boot and a fossilized pickle from the 1950's. It does not take very long for something to become fossilized.

Didn't it take millions and millions of years for dinosaurs to turn into oil? No. There is a refinery in Texas that takes in turkey carcasses and turns them into oil in three hours. It doesn't take millions of years to make oil. Given the right conditions of temperature, pressure, etc., it only takes a few hours.

#2 - It took millions of years to build up all those rock layers the fossils are buried in.

There's a problem with that statement. It's not true.

When Mount St. Helens erupted scientists observed thousands of layers of sediment, 30 feet thick, laid down in three hours. A lot of water (say from Noah's global flood), over a short time can easily create millions of rock layers. And what would we find in those rock layers? Lots of dead things killed by Noah's flood--which is exactly what we see.

#3 - There are scientific methods used to date rocks that tell us they are millions of years old.

There's a problem with that statement. It's not true.

There are about 100 methods of dating rocks based on measuring radioactive decay. The problem is that using these methods you'll probably get 100 different ages for the rock. One of the problems scientists face is picking the dating method that gives an age for the rock that is the age they want it to have. They'll test a rock, and if the test does not give the age they want, they try another test.

It's interesting that these same tests, when used on new rocks (from volcanos such as Mt. St. Helens) give ages for these new rocks that say they are millions of years old. That doesn't add up.

Learn more about radiographic dating in this paper written by a college student. (Learn more about Student Papers).

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